Cooking appliances, and in particular electric grilling devices such as griddles, are known. These grilling/griddle devices typically have a lower housing having a lower cooking surface and an upper housing having an upper cooking surface, wherein the cooking surfaces are typically heated by an electrical resistance heater. A handle attached to the upper housing allows a user to raise and lower the upper housing relative to the lower housing to accommodate a food item therebetween to be heated.
While existing grilling devices are generally suitable for what is regarded as ordinary performance, there is room for improvement in terms of cleanliness and convenience. As will be readily appreciated, while existing grills may include a drip tray that is manually positionable to collect drippings or run off of cooking juices from the front of the lower cooking surface, drippings from the upper grill surface can create an undesirable mess. In particular, especially when in the partially open position or fully open position, the run off of cooking juices from the rear edge of the upper cooking surface typically is not collected and instead finds its way to a countertop or other surface on which the grill is placed.